


Don't Rob Royalty

by AnagramRMX



Series: Auradon Encounters [2]
Category: Aladdin (1992), Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Child Neglect, F/M, Kleptomania, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:11:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8529043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: Jay steals a bracelet, freaks out, and finds out he has more in common with his dad's nemesis than he thought.





	

Jay stretched tiredly as he walked out of his last class of the day. He really didn’t have a problem with school, but some of the classes here were such a drag. And, unfortunately, choosing to be good meant at least trying to pay attention. Thankfully, it was over now, and he didn’t have tourney practice.

Which meant he just got to hang out with his friends.

He smiled to himself, slinging his bag over his shoulder and starting to walk a little faster. He was out of the building in moments, and was wondering where he’d find Mal or Carlos when a small person rammed into him from the side before collapsing onto the ground.

“Ooof!”

The impact hardly bothered Jay.

The kid, though…

Jay ducked down to the little girl’s level. “Hey, you okay?”

She didn’t look like she was hurt at least, just stunned. She actually seemed surprised that someone had been in her way. “Yep. I think. Where did you come from?”

He snorted when she reached up her arms, expecting him to help her back to her feet, and in the back of his mind, he noticed all the bracelets she was wearing. She had to be wearing at least 6 little gold bangles, and he wondered to himself if any of them were worth anything. He tried not to dwell on it, and pulled her to her feet. “Well I didn’t just appear out of thin air.”

The girl looked at him seriously, and didn’t let go of his hand. “You  _ could _ have,” she insisted. “My uncle does it all the time.”

“Okay. That sounds fake, but-”

“Isra!”

Jay was cut off when a man rushed over, looking harried and out of breath. Jay quickly pulled his hand away from the little girl’s wrist, stepping back nervously.

“There you are!” the man gasped, kneeling so that he could put his hand on the girl’s shoulders. “Why are you always running off?”

Isra pouted slightly. “The blue lady was being boring. I wanted to explore!”

“And I told you that we could go exploring later,” the man sighed. “But now we might just go home instead.”

The shocked and offended expression that came onto Isra’s face made Jay snort, which had the unintended consequence of drawing her dad’s attention. He raised an eyebrow at Jay and glanced over him with a curious expression that, frankly, Jay was starting to get used to.

“Oh, Sorry about her,” the man said, standing up to look Jay in the eye, although he kept one hand on Isra’s shoulder. “She can be a bit of a handful sometimes.”

Jay put on his most charming smile, sliding his hands into his pockets disarmingly. “Hey, it’s fine. I was more worried about her than I was me.”

He gave a little wink to Isra, who smiled back up at him. Her father seemed amused at this when Jay met his gaze again.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s fine,” he laughed. “She’s always getting into something. This isn’t even the first time she’s run off today.”

Wincing sympathetically, Jay asked, “Is the blue lady the Fairy Godmother?”

The man nodded. “Hah, yeah. We’re  _ supposed _ ,” he looked down at Isra dramatically, “to be getting a tour. Isra’s older brother Aziz is supposed to be starting here in the fall, so we thought we’d make it a family trip?”

“Trip?” Jay muttered. “You took a vacation to look at a school?”

“Sort of. We’ve got a lot of friends here in Auradon, but we don’t visit for much other than business,” the man answered, shrugging a little. “It’s a long way from home in Agrabah, you know?”

The word prompted Jay’s eyes to widen, although he did his best to hide the impulse. Looking at Isra and her father now, he could see the features he knew were supposed to mark those who grew up on Auradon’s desert border. They both had thick black hair and dark eyes, tan skin and a distinctive nose: features that Jay’s father had passed onto him, too.

Absently, Jay wondered if he could ask what it was like there. He had never been able to get a straight answer from Jafar, who opted to rant and rave about the success he could have had instead. They hadn’t had a lot of pictures either, and the Auradon News Network that they’d seen on TV usually only focused on Auradon’s Capital City.

But he never got the chance. Isra’s father was looking at him curiously again when he asked, “Have I seen you before?” 

And all other thoughts vanished, because yeah. All of the citizens of Agrabah had to know what Jafar looked like, and Jay didn’t want to stick around for anyone to pick out the family resemblances.

“Ah-I don’t think so,” he answered. “I’ve just got one of those faces-but...um-I’ve gotta go, so you guys enjoy your tour or...whatever.”

Just as the lightbulb seemed to go off in the dad’s head, Jay turned tail and basically ran across campus to get back to the dormitory.

He breathed heavily as she shut the door behind him. Villain kid he may be, but sometimes he really hated the reminder. 

“Woah, dude, what’s up with you?”

Jay glanced up to see Carlos and Evie sitting on Carlos’ bed, with a mound of notebooks and flash-cards spread out around them.

“Are you running from the Junior Bimbettes again?” Evie asked, amused.

Jay shook his head. “Some guy from Agrabah thought he recognized me,” he huffed. “Really didn’t want a repeat of Family day, you know?”

Carlos made a face. “Sorry man.”

Jay waved Carlos off before going to collapse on his bed.

In the meantime, Carlos and Evie went back to studying.

“Okay, so: Queen of the Northern Lands?” Carlos asked.

Jay rolled his eyes at the two of them, wondering if he could tune them out, or if he should get his headphones. The four of them had been stuck into a series of random history classes to fill elective requirements, and while Jay had (thankfully) gotten the History of Pirates and Woodsmen with Mal, the other two had been stuck in History of Auradon’s Royal Families. If it were for a more interesting class, Jay might have even gone to help them study, but as it was, it sounded super boring…

Rolling over, he started digging through his pockets for his headphones, only to pause when he felt something unfamiliar and metallic.

He almost groaned when he pulled it out and saw the bracelet. It was a child’s size, which meant he had to have lifted it off of Isra when he was helping her stand up.

_ Fuck. I need to pay more attention _ , he growled to himself.

The stealing thing had really turned into a problem after the coronation. Being ‘good’ now, he had decided to quit taking other people’s stuff, which was all fine and dandy as long as he realized he was doing it. Any time he really got the urge to steal, he’d find another way to work it out: go play tourney, climb onto the roof. Sometimes he’d even steal from Mal, Evie, or Carlos, because he knew that they wouldn’t get angry when they found out it was gone.

But sometimes, when the target was just too easy (food, pens, anything that belonged to Chad...children's jewelry, apparently), he’d grab things without even realizing what he was doing. He’d gotten lucky so far: everything he’d taken lately had been easy to return, or something that wouldn’t be missed.

A gold bracelet, though…

He might be able to run and catch up to hand it over now, but did he really want to risk getting called out as a villain? Maybe he could take it to Fairy Godmother tomorrow, and she’d believe he actually  _ found _ it for once. Actually, after what he’d seen, she would probably believe it that Isra just dropped it or something.

“Princess Isra.”

Jay snapped up. “What?” he blurted, afraid he’d been caught.

Evie and Carlos looked over at his exclamation. “Um-princess Isra?” Carlos repeated questioningly. “It’s the answer to the flashcard.”

“It’s not actually. Princess Isra is third in line to the throne. Her brother Prince Aziz is second, and her dad is first.”

Jay’s heart started to beat a little faster.

“Why is Aladdin  _ in line _ ?” Carlos asked petulantly. “I thought he was already king or sultan or-”

“Wait, stop.”

They looked over at Jay again, growing more and more confused as he stood up and looked at them in terror. “Did you just say Aladdin’s kids were named Isra and Aziz?”

Carlos gave Evie a sidelong glance. “Um...yes?”

Jay’s face began to flush, and he moved to grab their textbook before they could ask anymore questions. This couldn’t be happening. He had thought he would be able to recognize his dad’s nemesis if he ever met him…

He stopped on the yellow chapter labeled Agrabah. The first page had the Sultan’s palace on it, which Jay quickly skimmed over in favor of the portrait of the Royal Family right below it.

Seated on the throne was of course Sultana Jasmine, dressed in the white and gold robes of her monarchy. At her side was a young man that Jay realized was Prince Aziz.

And behind the throne was Aladdin, who was holding up the young Princess Isra.

The little girl he had met outside was older than the girl in the portrait, but they were definitely the same person. The same could be said for her father.

He had just met Aladdin.

And robbed his daughter.

 

Mal sighed heavily, trying to straighten her jacket as she walked to meet Ben near the headmistress’ office.

It was weird being the girlfriend of a monarch. For the most part, Ben did all of his work by himself, but sometimes he asked her to come along with him. Usually it was something social, a meeting he either couldn’t bear to attend alone, or something he loved and wanted to share with her. 

She hadn’t quite been able to tell which of the two today’s event was going to be. He had told her to dress casual, that he and Fairy Godmother just wanted to introduce her to someone. He hadn’t actually told her who they were, saying that it was better if she just met them in person, but he insisted that they were good people.

Up ahead, she heard Fairy Godmother giving a tour. She was probably with the people that Ben wanted Mal to meet, and for a few moments, Mal debated going ahead and joining the group.

Then she saw her friends hiding behind a wall, and she raised an eyebrow.

“What are you guys doing?”

Carlos nearly jumped two feet in the air when he heard her voice, and Mal was sure that he would’ve screamed if Evie hadn’t put her hand over his mouth. Jay rounded on her with wide eyes, hissing, “Shhhhhh!”

Her face contorted in confusion, but she dropped her voice. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Jay stole something by accident again,” Evie sighed, bobbing her head in Jay’s direction as she took her hand off of Carlos’ mouth.

“So? Just go return it.”

“I would if I could,” Jay grumbled.

Mal looked at Carlos and Evie for an explanation, leading to both of them sighing. 

Carlos whispered, “He lifted a bracelet off the Princess of Agrabah.”

Eyes widening, Mal took a few steps forward to peek around the corner so that she could look ahead. Sure enough, Fairy Godmother was there talking to a family that she definitely recognized. Aladdin and Jasmine were both holding one hand of a small, pouting girl, who she guessed was Princess Isra. Along the side of the hall was a teenage boy, Prince Aziz.

“ _ That’s _ who Ben wanted me to meet?” she asked aloud.

Her friends all turned to look at her, giving her questioning looks as she pulled back around the corner. “Ben told me he wanted me to meet some people that couldn’t make it to the coronation,” she told them quietly. “He wouldn’t tell me who they were, though.”

“I guess he didn’t want you to freak Jay out by accident,” Evie whispered back.

Carlos snorted. “Yeah, he can obviously do that on his own.”

Jay rounded on him, lightly slapping Carlos in the chest. “Hey, I have good reason to be freaking out!” he hissed.

Mal sobered slightly, starting to see how her friend was starting to panic. Even if they were all good now, most of them were still afraid of their parents victims. The fight that had started on Family Day had of course been because of Queen Leah’s judgments on Mal. They were all a little afraid of what would happen if they came across any of the others.

Jay hadn’t had the chance to meet Aladdin and Jasmine yet, and apparently he’d already robbed them. It wouldn’t make a stellar first impression when the deck was already stacked against him. What would happen if they caught him? Would they try and get him sent back to the Isle?

It wasn’t a happy thought. They were a family now, and no one wanted to lose each other.

She started wracking her brains for a plan. “We can totally handle this…” she muttered. “We just need to find a way to get that bracelet near them…”

“We tried planting it on the prince earlier, but he keeps moving,” Evie muttered.

“I still think we should try dropping it on them from the ceiling,” Carlos added.

“Because that doesn’t look suspicious at all,” Jay hissed.

“It would be pretty weird,” Carlos agreed. “But if someone just found it on the floor…”

“What if someone steps on it?” Evie gasped.

“What if we tried slipping it into someone else’s pockets?” Mal asked. “If you-”

“Mal?”

All of them froze when they heard Ben’s voice calling for her from around the corner. “Mal is that you?”

_ No time, _ she thought. “I’m coming!” she blurted back, before turning to her friends. “I’ll distract them, just try and plant it on someone or...something while their backs are turned.”

She scrambled around her friends, painting a smile onto her face as quickly as she could.

Ben looked at her with a confused smile, making him look adorable as always as she walked up and kissed him on the cheek. “Hi there,” she greeted quickly. “Sorry about the wait. I’m Mal.”

The Sultana, Jasmine, smiled and offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you from Fairy Godmother.”

Mal raised an eyebrow, looking over at her teacher who just kept smiling. “Well, she and her friends have proven to be very interesting students here.”

Which didn’t actually sound as good as Mal was sure that she meant it.

Aladdin laughed. “That’s true,” he agreed. “We were all watching the Coronation on TV. The fight with the dragon was definitely something."

“You were so cool!” little Izra cheered.

Mal smiled, and was about to say something when she looked down the hallway and saw Jay still waiting on the other side of the corridor, looking on nervously. Right. She had to make this work for him.

“And I can tell you all about it, Princess,” she said, in the sweetest voice, she could muster. “But why don’t we go talk about it on the balcony. It’s a little chilly in here and the view is great, don’t you think, Benny-Boo?”

She looked over at Ben Pointedly, who recognized the look and the pet-name as an order to do what she said. “Ah...yeah, sure. It’s just this way, and I think we can see the tourney field from there.”

Mal was unsurprised that Prince Aziz perked up when he heard the word, and started bouncing on his heels. The adults all chittered as they started down the hall after him and Ben, and Mal looked behind her to wave her friends on.

Once the group reached the balcony, a small group of them gathered over at one edge, overlooking the tourney field. Aziz was apparently crazy into the sport, and was excited to try out for the team in the fall. Jasmine was discussing the sports programs with fairy godmother while Ben told Aziz about the team. With all of them facing away, that only left Aladdin and Isra to distract while Jay returned the bracelet…

“So are you kids liking it here in Auradon?”

Mal barely restrained herself from jumping when Aladdin appeared at her side. She had no idea how he had snuck up on her, but she guessed that the man’s skills as a former thief had never truly faded. “Ah...yeah. It’s great. I’m doing well in all my classes, and my friends are all here,” she muttered, looking around, happy to see Isra a few feet away. Now if she could get Aladdin to look over the balcony…

“Your friends,” Aladdin muttered. “The kids that came with you from the Isle?”

Mal raised an eyebrow at his tone, and moved to lean against the stone railing. “Yeah, actually,” she answered quietly. “I mean, I’m making new friends here and everything, but it’s not really the same as the people you grew up with.”

Aladdin fell into place next to her, resting his elbows on the rail. “So you grew up with Jay? Jafar’s son?”

There was something in his voice that Mal couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t something she’d heard on the Isle, so she knew it wasn’t manipulation, and it wasn’t anger or vengeance either. Not knowing what he was after made warning bells go off in her head, and she tried to keep herself calm. “Yeah...actually,” she muttered. “Jay and I have been friends for a long time...not that we would’ve admitted it.”

“You aren’t supposed to have friends on the Isle?” Aladdin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mal shrugged. “Not really,” she mumbled. “You’re supposed to have minions, if you're as high up the ladder as we are. Maybe accomplices or allies, if they’re really bad, but no friends.” She glanced behind her, and saw Jay slowly creeping out of the doorway, moving towards where Isra was jumping on and off of a bench. She looked back at Aladdin quickly. “Why do you ask?”

“Just...trying to figure out what he’s like, if you’ll believe me,” Aladdin muttered. He shook his head before looking back over the balcony. “Truth be told: we didn’t know that Jafar had a kid until after the coronation, when it was all over the news and everything.”

Behind her, Mal knew that Jay had overheard, and paused for just a second as he tried to plant the bracelet back on Isra (not that she was holding still enough for him to do it).

“Agrabah is really far away, you know? We don’t have much to do with the Isle, or hear much about it. When we saw the news, we called Fairy Godmother to ask after you all.”

Mal’s brow wrinkled. “What?” she muttered. “Why?”

Aladdin snorted, and glanced over at her. “Lets just say I was concerned,” he  answered. “I might not have had villains for parents, but I did grow up having to scavenge for food. You guys couldn’t have had it easy.”

She couldn’t help but look away, even though she knew that she was supposed to be keeping him occupied. “You could say that,” she muttered. “That...that’s how Jay and I met actually. We’d meet up before school and trade things that we’d stolen the day before.”

“Of course you’d be thieves,” Aladdin said, a tiny laugh in his voice. “You know, a funny thing happened earlier. I was chasing after Isra, and this kid showed up.”

Mal’s eyes went wide. Jay physically froze behind her.

_ Uh oh _ .

“I noticed him pocket one of her bracelets while he was helping to pick her up, and for a few seconds, I thought it was really weird that he would steal from a Princess. It didn’t make any sense to me, until I recognized him as Jafar’s son.”

With that, he turned around and waved at Jay, who blanched.

Mal gaped. He was going to be in so much trouble and-

Jay held out the bracelet, and Mal could see that he was doing his absolute best to not run away. “I'm Sorry. I just...I didn’t realize I had it until later-and I was trying to return it...”

Aladdin stood up straight, and walked over with a kind smile on his face. “Hey, kid, take it easy-”

“I didn’t mean to do it, I swear. Just don’t send me back.”

Aladdin’s smile fell, and he moved over, putting his hand over Jay’s where he held out the bracelet. “No one’s sending anyone back anywhere. I promise."

Jay still didn't look convinced, but before he could start babbling again, Ben spoke up.

"I see you've already met, then."

Mal looked at her boyfriend questioningly as he walked over, Sultana Jasmine close behind him. She looked horribly concerned about the scene occurring between her husband and Jay.

"Already?" Mal asked.

Ben glanced at her apologetically. "I was hoping that you'd help me introduce them over dinner," he admitted.

"We asked him to," Jasmine added, looking at Jay. "Ben was trying to find a way to do it without spooking you all."

Mal groaned quietly. Her boyfriend was doing his best to help, but sometimes he just didn’t understand how she and her friends operated, and how waiting until the last minute to find something out was the worst way possible to keep them from freaking out. She told herself that she would give him some pointers later when Jay spoke up again.

"You...you wanted to meet me?" He asked. He still looked terrified that this was going to end badly. "You aren't mad?"

"About you stealing a bracelet?" Aladdin asked. "Of course not. I know from experience that it isn't a habit you can break overnight, especially coming from circumstances like yours." When Jay still looked dubious, he frowned. "Or is it the fact that you're Jafar's son that you think we'd be angry about?"

Jay looked at the ground, pulling his hand away from Aladdin's.

Jasmine reached out to put a hand on Jay's shoulder, only to stop when he jerked away. "Jay," she said quietly. "We aren’t here to have you punished or sent back. You've proven already that you aren't your father."

"Then why are you here?"

"We were worried," Aladdin muttered. "The villains are horrible people, they could hardly be better parents. Especially Jafar. We wanted to check on you all. Help you, if you'd let us."

A few moments passed and Jay looked up, more confused than afraid now, which was a good thing. 

Fairy godmother stepped out of the corner where she had been standing with Aziz. "Why don’t we all go try talking over dinner," she said kindly. "There's nothing like food to bring people together, after all."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Jasmine agreed. "You and your friends can tell us all about yourselves."

"Right." Ben looked relieved that things seemed to be on track again, and smiled at his guests. "I already have a room set aside, I can take you there while Jay and Mal go find-"

"Uh, mom, dad," Aziz interrupted. "Where's Isra?"

Everyone stood up straight, and looked around urgently to see that the little girl had disappeared. 

Aladdin huffed. "Not again."

The group was about to tear down the hall looking for the girl when they noticed Carlos and Evie sitting on the floor just a few feet inside the door. Isra was standing behind Evie, who was trying not to giggle as Isra tried to braid her hair. 

Carlos smiled sheepishly. "I'm guessing this is yours?"

Jay let out a snort at the sight, and Mal felt herself relax knowing that things were going to be alright. 

 

It was safe to say, by the time dinner ended, that the Isle Four were no longer afraid of Agrabah’s Royal Family. Isra had latched onto Evie, who happily spent the entire meal with the little girl in her lap, while Aziz and Carlos hit it off talking about video games. Jasmine and Aladdin kept them all entertained by telling the tales of their adventures in Agrabah, some of which were because of villains who had designs on the kingdom, but more often than not it was some fiasco of their own making.

Most of the stories that Aladdin started had some self-deprecating moral to it. Apparently he had often had to be reminded that his past as a street rat did not make Jasmine love him any less, and at other times his sticky fingers got him in trouble when he forgot that he didn't have to steal to eat anymore. By the time they got around to the tales of how Aladdin had met his thief-king father and dark sorcerer brother, Jay had started to realize why they were so worried about him.

He had never even considered that he and his father's nemesis could have anything in common, but they did. The urge to steal, villainous family members...hell, from the way Jasmine kept rolling her eyes, adding in little jokes, it sounded like Aladdin had once been the same kind of cocky, flirtatious kid that Jay was now. 

It was weird, and he wasn't sure what to with that information.

(Okay, that wasn't true. As soon as Fairy Godmother set up their next phone call home, he was going to tell his father all about how well he got along with Aladdin and Jasmine. He wondered if Jafar's head would explode from the rage)

He had a lot of questions: some practical (did Aladdin know of anything that would help him stop grabbing stuff?), some a little more personal (had Jafar ever had any redeemable qualities?), but he really didn't know if it would be acceptable to ask any of them. Yeah, they seemed friendly enough but they were still enemies with his dad.

And, if he were honest, asking for help was hard.

He found himself falling towards the back of the group as everyone prepared to leave. He watched the others carefully, making sure his friends were all happy and healthy before zeroing back in on Aladdin and Jasmine. Aladdin was carrying Isra, who had started nodding off, while Aziz stayed close to his mother as they all said their goodbyes. They looked like the perfect little family. 

"It was wonderful to meet you all," Jasmine said to the Isle Kids, before giving a short curtsey to Ben. "And good to see you, as always, Your Highness."

Ben bowed back respectfully. "Be sure to keep in touch, Sultana," he said with a smile, moving back to put an arm around Mal.

Jay started to wave goodbye, thinking that everyone was about to leave when Aladdin looked at him. "Hey, Jay, mind walking with us for a bit?"

Jay froze. He could feel his friends looking at him, while everyone waited for an answer, and heard himself choke out, "Um, yeah. Sure..."

Aladdin and Jasmine smiled, and started to turn while beckoning him forward. Jay walked after them, shooting a glance back at his friends, who tried to smile encouragingly.

It didn't help.

His stomach flopped over itself as they walked out of the room, and his mind scrambled, trying to figure out what they wanted. They had been great at dinner, so he couldn’t be in trouble...but then why did they want to talk to him alone?

"You okay?" Aladdin asked, pulling Jay out of his thoughts.

Jay looked over, and tried to hide his nerves with a grin. “Yeah,” he answered smoothly. “Why do you ask?”

“You just look a little tense is all,” Aladdin muttered, shrugging with one shoulder.

“Just a little jumped up after today.”

Up ahead, Jay saw the car waiting on the Royal Family, and felt his heart speed up. He’d know in a few seconds what was going on. There was no reason to freak out.

He glanced around and met the gaze of Sultana Jasmine, and tensed further. The two of them slowed down as the rest of the family walked to the car, and Jay held his breath as she faced him fully.

_ Everything is going to be okay. They wouldn’t have waited this long if they were... _

Jasmine looked at him sadly. “We wanted to apologize, Jay.”

_ Everything...wait. _

“What?” Jay choked out. “Wh...why? What would you have to apologize for?”

The Sultana pursed her lips. “For a lot. We told you before that we don’t come to Auradon often. The desert keeps Agrabah out of most of the politics in the rest of the country, and because of that, we don’t pay much attention to the Isle. We knew what kind of place it was, and we let others administer the rules. At the time when we sent Jafaar there, we thought it was for the best: safer than leaving him in a lamp for someone to find, and more humane than the jails we used to use. And after that, we forgot about it.”

Jay followed her words closely, and still didn’t understand. “Why would you care?” he asked. “He’s a villain. No one wants to pay attention to them.”

“Maybe, but just because he wasn’t in Agrabah anymore, that didn’t give us the right to ignore other people he might have hurt,” Jasmine said. “Because we stopped worrying about him, we never realized the kind of things happening on the isle. We never realized that there were  _ children  _ left there.” She shook her head, looking towards the ground. “You all deserved better than to grow up eating off of garbage barges and stealing to stay clothed, and the fact that your parents were villains doesn’t change that. If we had noticed, we could have gotten you out sooner, maybe even made sure you were never raised by them to begin with.”

It would have been a lie to say that Jay had never wondered what it would have been like to grow up in Auradon instead of on the Isle. Most kids he’d known there did. He had never decided whether that would have been better. 

Not that he thought it could have been worse either.

The only thing he could think to say was, “You didn’t know.”

“That doesn’t excuse it.”

Jay turned slightly as Aladdin joined them again, having put Isra into her seat in the car. “I’m not going to pretend that we can fix everything, but the job of the monarchy is to do what’s best for their people. And as far as the Isle goes, we failed.” He glanced around, taking in the white towers of the school around them. “All of us did.”

Jasmine moved forward and put a hand on her husband’s shoulder before looking back at Jay. “We’re going to do what we can to make it right though. It’ll be a while before we can make a real difference on the Isle, but we would like to do what we can for you and your friends.”

“I don’t know if you’ll want anything to do with us, but we want you all to know that we’re here for you,” Aladdin added, looking at Jay earnestly. “If you ever need anything, just ask, okay? Even if it’s just to talk.”

Jay looked between them, jaw slack, and unable to find the words to respond. The two of them were looking at him with something that wasn’t just guilt. It was warm, and protective. It made him feel safe, and he couldn’t quite place why, until he looked back and saw Aziz and Isra in the car.

They were acting like parents. Actual parents, who loved their kids. Even more, they cared about a bunch of kids they’d never met who they knew had been failed by everyone else. Despite who he was, they cared, and were willing to step up and do something right by him.

He swallowed hard, and sensing his distress, Jasmine took a hesitant step forward. Unlike earlier, she was careful as she moved, giving Jay plenty of warning before she put her arms around his shoulders, hugging him.

And while Jay didn’t have anything to compare it to, he definitely thought this felt maternal.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “I don’t...I might not…”

“It’s fine kid,” Aladdin said, cutting him off, and giving him a smile as Jasmine pulled away from the hug. “Take however long you need, but we’ll stay in touch. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay,” Jay responded dazedly. “Except...do you think maybe-” He cut himself off, thinking for a moment. “Maybe I could come visit you at the embassy before you go back to Agrabah?”

“You can visit us anytime you like,” Jasmine assured him, putting a hand up to stroke his cheek. “We’ll be sure to come and see you before we leave, too.”

Jay stayed in that moment for what felt like hours before he heard Aziz shout, “Mom! Let’s go!”, and almost snorted.

“I guess that’s your cue to go?”

“I guess,” Aladdin sighed. “Isra probably should have been in bed an hour ago to be honest.”

“We’ll see you soon, Jay,” Jasmine said brightly, and gave him another squeeze before taking a step back. 

Aladdin put an arm over her shoulder and waved at Jay before they started towards the car. “See ya, kid.”

He watched them walk away, and waved when the car finally drove off, taking a long shaky breath. He felt wrung out, still nerve-wracked and elated from everything that had just happened.

It would be okay though. A look up towards the school revealed four shadows watching from a window, and he grinned. He might have new people to call family, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be happy to get back to the one he already had.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick primer for how I’m handling the Royal Family of Agrabah:  
> Since Jasmine was next in line for the throne, she’s Sultan (in this case, Sultana, because it’s supposed to be the title of a wife of a Sultan). Her dad is not dead!!! He’s just chillin now in retirement.  
> IDK how Arabian royalty works (plus this is Disney), so I’m going with what I know of the British system for Aladdin. Since he isn’t actually Royal, he’s a step below Jasmine, and has the title of Prince Consort, like Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II.  
> They have two kids, Prince Aziz (canon) and Princess Isra (not canon, but I thought the idea was adorable and it just kind of happened). Both of them are younger than the other Auradon kids bc Aladdin and Jasmine were too busy adventuring into the animated series to have kids at the same time as everyone else.  
> At this point, I just have a list of random things that'd be cool to go on in the Descendants Universe. Some of them are feasible in cannon. Some are more of a wish-fulfillment thing, because I want some of the heroes to acknowledge that they messed up with the Isle kids. No telling if it'll get written or not. This has been sitting mostly finished in my docs for a while now, though.


End file.
